Family of 4 found buried over each other in their house in Idukki

Thodupuzha: The bodies of four members of a family were found buried inside their home at Thdopuzha in Idukki district on Wednesday.

They were all stacked over one another and buried in a pit in the backyard of their house. The bodies had deep stab wounds.

Police identified the deceased as Krishnan (52), his wife Susheela (50), their daughter Arsha (21) and son Arjun (19). They were missing for the last four days.

The police suspect they were killed either on Sunday night or Monday as the bodies were in decomposed condition.

The police were called in by the neighbours of the family, who had said that they had not seen the family for the last four days. The neighbours and some relatives of the family went to the house on Wednesday morning when they found an untouched stack of newspapers outside their home and blood stains on the floor and walls.

They told the police that the family largely kept to themselves. The deceased lived in a secluded place in a rubber estate at Mundanmudi.

Krishnan owns an acre of rubber plantation and used to run a grocery shop. However, the shop was closed sometime ago. His daughter was BEd student at an institute in Thodupuzha while his son was studying in class XII at a school at Kanjikuzhi, near Idukki.

Three years ago, a case was registered against Krishnan for allegedly practicing black magic. Many people, including celebrities used to come and meet Krishnan as he was an astrologer.

When the police broke open the house, they found blood stains all over the place and a freshly-dug earth. Police have recovered a hammer and a knife from the house.

“There was no forced entry into the house. It shows the crime was committed by someone who knows the family well. We suspect more than two persons were involved in the crime,” said a senior police officer.

The bodies have been shifted to Kottayam medical college for postmortem, police said.